Houseplants with Holiday Flair

 

 

With their blooms and colorful foliage, houseplants add a special touch to your home or office, during the holidays and into the new year. Moreover, houseplants help clean the air we breathe and elevate our moods. Here are a few of our favorites.  

 

Aglaonema are one of the easiest houseplants to grow. Also known as Chinese Evergreen, you can grow this plant in low, medium or bright light situations and still enjoy its colorful foliage. Just avoid direct sun. Aglaonema will tolerate dry soil but does best with regular watering.  

 

Red flowers and dark green foliage, Anthurium delivers some of the best of holiday colors. Anthurium thrives when placed near a bright window. It will do okay in low light situations, but don't expect it to flower as well.  Allow the soil to dry slightly between each watering.  

 Calathea plants stand out with bold, oblong leaves.   

 

Valued for its dark green leaves striped with white veins, the Zebra plant makes a beautiful houseplant. Does best in bright, indirect light.   

 

Croton also features very colorful foliage.  

 

 

Spathiphyllum, also known as Peace Lilies, grow naturally in the shade so they are a good choice for an area that doesn't get a lot of natural light. With Peace Lilies, it’s important to keep the soil evenly moist. Peace Lilies are among the easiest plants to grow in your home or office. They are also one of the best plants for improving air quality indoors. 

 

 
For outstanding foliage, Frittonia is easy-to-grow and offers outstanding color. Frittonia does well in lower light situations.  

 
 

In addition, holiday cactus will bloom well into January. 

 

All these houseplants will do well when kept at normal room temperatures. You'll want to keep your houseplants healthy and growing by feeding them every two weeks with houseplant fertilizer such as ferti-lome's 20-20-20 or Schultz’s 10-15-10. On the weeks you don’t fertilize, water with SUPERthrive, a vitamin solution that includes Kelp. This supplement, along with regular fertilization, will help your houseplants thrive, especially during the winter months.  

 

 

 

Gift ideas for Gardeners

Whether the gardener on your list enjoys growing tomatoes, vegetables, flowers or roses, having the right tool makes every job easier. Gifts such as a good set of pruners, a pair of trimming scissors, scoops and trowels and gardening gloves will be appreciated by gardeners of all ages and experience levels. 

 

A quality set of hand pruners is an essential tool for every gardener. They'll use them to prune roses, perennials, shrubs and small tree limbs. A bypass hand pruner is usually the best choice for most home gardeners. Hand pruners are available for right-handed as well as left-handed gardeners.  

 

Trimming scissors are a handy tool to have for some of the finer work in the garden, such as deadheading and light pruning. They are also useful indoors for keeping houseplants neat and trimmed. This is the tool we use at the 'Bin for all of our trimming chores.  

 

Garden scoops and trowels are useful for many tasks, including digging, weeding, filling pots with soil and planting. These tools are hand-forged with hardwood handles and will last.  

 

If arthritis has made gardening more difficult, choose ergonomically designed tools. They’re lighter weight and have handles designed to offer maximum joint protection.  

 

 

Finish up your Christmas shopping for your gardener with a good pair of gloves. These are Christmas gifts your gardener will really use, and they'll think about you every time they do.